First Look at ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ on CW – Will it Be a Hit (Again)?

Published 2 years ago
by
Jason Tabrys
, Updated May 22nd, 2013 at 10:35 pm,

It’s almost summer and that means that cable has new seasons of Burn Notice, True Blood, and other summer fare on tap while the broadcast networks go into semi-hibernation because they figure that viewers are busy. The CW is no different, but this summer they’re hoping that there are enough improv comedy fans to help propel their Whose Line is it Anyway reboot toward success, and now we’ve got our first look at the show with this clip that is heavy on both 90210 fueled corporate synergy and funny.

As you can see from the video (above), little has changed from the version of Whose Line that ran from 1998-2006 on ABC with Drew Carey as moderator and the original version of the show that ran in the UK from 1988-1998. Even the show’s stars – Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie (who have each done more than 250 total episodes, UK & US) – remain and they’re joined by Wayne Brady, who was the runaway star of the ABC version, and appeared briefly on the British original.

It’s not known if any other former favorites from the show’s past like Tony Slattery, Greg Proops, Mike McShane, and Nashville star Charles “Chip” Esten will re-appear for the show’s return voyage, but the series is injecting some star-power with new host Aisha Tyler, who takes the mantle that Drew Carey once took from Clive Anderson. If more star power is needed, Whose Line does have a history of letting guest stars as diverse as Stephen Fry, Jerry Springer, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Stephen Colbert, Richard Simmons, and David Hasselhoff in on the fun, so the potential for more of that surely exists.

What potential exists for the longevity of this third iteration of the show, though? That much is unclear. On one hand, the CW – which typically aims their programming selections at 18-34 year olds – seems demographically incompatible with an improv comedy show with roots that go back further than many CW viewer’s first breaths, but the show does have the potential to court nostalgic fans that grew up with the ABC version or the US re-airs of the original, and it can be both mildly topical and a springboard/proving ground for young comics, much in the way that it was for Brady back in the day.

So, while some people may roll their eyes at the notion of improv games on TV and a series on The CW with stars that are in their 50s, there is a reason why Stiles, Mochrie, and the rest have made this show a success in the US and the UK for 25 years – funny is funny.

31 Comments

Post a Comment

Want to change your avatar?Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Rules: No profanity or personal attacks. Use a valid email address or risk being banned from commenting.

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

If your comment doesn't show up immediately, it may have been flagged for moderation. Please try refreshing the page first, then drop us a note and we'll retrieve it. Keep in mind that we do not allow external links in the comments.

I heard that Colin and Brad didn’t really like being on “Whose Line” because they don’t really like doing short-form improv as opposed to long-form improv. Long-form consists of longer scenes (go figure), it isn’t really a ‘game’ atmosphere, and involves callback jokes with intertwining storylines usually. Unfortunately, long-form doesn’t really adapt well to a tv show structure what with the interrupting commercial breaks, whereas short-form can easily be broken up with it’s quick, segmented comedy.

But yeah, apparently they weren’t too into doing short-form all of the time. But I’m sure they got paid a buttload by the CW to come back. Which is great for me, because I think they’re funny no matter what type of comedy they’re doing.

Can’t wait! I think it will be sucessful during the summer. The demographic that watched the ABC run are probably the targeted demographic with this incarnation of it. Of course it will pick up new viewers/fans along the way. Aisha Tyler is a great choice for a host too.

I’m a little skeptical after watching the clip to be honest. I miss Drew for sure, and so far Aisha isn’t convincing me. I’ve only seen her host something at E3 last year and I thought she was terrible there, so I didn’t have high hopes. Honestly the guys don’t seem too into it either. The humor is still there, but they seem like they’re half-assing it almost. I laughed during the clip though, so I do still have some hope. If that clip is any indication of the final product that we’ll be getting this summer, then I think it will be decently funny but not live up to the original series. We’ll see. But either way I’ll be watching.

It’s odd, something about them just doesn’t seem as… energetic (?) as before. Despite that I still laughed quite a bit, so I’ll be watching anyway. Just hope they’re not slowing down on the humour after being off so long…

I think the 90210 theme was a little sucky, though. Is it the CW trying to force it to fit in with their usual demographic? Don’t think it’s a good idea.

Yeah, I think they made big mistake by recreating the ABC set. This is not the ABC version, so the set should have been redesigned. I’m not talking about something flashy, but certainly not an exact replica.

As far as trying to recapture the magic of the ABC version. That is impossible. They are older now, and have already done this twice before when they were younger, and more eager. Wayne in particular has had tremendous success outside of Who’s Line, and is probably at a point in his life where he’s very happy, and not hungry for laughs anymore.

And as far as the new host goes, I don’t know her, I’ve never heard of her, I don’t know anything anything about her. But based on that clip, I don’t like her. She annoys me. And that might be a problem, as I really enjoyed Drew.

Aisha used to be the hostess for the old Talk Soup that Greg Kinnear started over on E in the late 90′s. She replaced him and she was verrrrrrry good while she was on. I think she will be fine. She’s also really pretty.

Aisha is also known for her voice work on the show Archer; and yes the guys are older, so it’s not a surprise really that this might seem a bit less manic. Just happy to have them back and allow more laughter into my life.

Hello there, I discovered your web site by means of Google while searching for a
related subject, your web site got here up, it appears to be
like good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, just was alert to your weblog thru Google, and found that it
is truly informative. I am gonna be careful for brussels.

I’ll appreciate for those who continue this in future. Many people might be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

My wife and I can’t wait for the return of Whose Line! We have some old episodes stored on our DVR, and we always watch one of them when there’s nothing else on. We love you Colin, Ryan, and Wayne. And Welcome, Aisha!!!!!! We would love to see some of the 4th chair guest return – Greg, Chip, Robin, etc. Drew, you’ll be missed, but we wish Aisha well. The preview looks like she’ll be GREAT!!!!!